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Sunday, September 7, 2008

Why Abortion is a Pivitol Election Subject, by the FLS?

Wow!

Who knew the FLS had an editor with common sense and the ability to not spin a topic against Republicans? Though it doesn't happen often (but it does happen and I link to it when it does), the editorial page got this one right.

Without human rights— specifically, without the right to live— what good are any other rights and laws?

In a few days we can expect the liberal drool of deathspeak and justification for abortion that will come after it unfortunately, but here it is while it's relevant and on the spot:

WHEN John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his pick for vice president, conservative Christians were electrified. Finally, a solidly pro-life choice woman who, by refusing to abort her own Down syndrome baby, and in dealing with her daughter's pregnancy, was confirming the value of every human life.

But when I expressed this to a friend of mine, a person I enjoy and respect, her consternation was apparent. "Why does it have to be that one single issue," she asked, "and why does religion have to play such a big role in politics? Our country is in trouble!"

At that point, I realized we had some 'splainin' to do.

Why is abortion such a big deal? I can hardly blame anyone for taking that viewpoint. Nearly four decades ago, a close friend came to me with a confession: She was pregnant. I remember sitting in my dorm room asking her, with a certain degree of wonder, how it felt to have a new life inside her. And then I supported her through her abortion.

I was motivated back then by my concern for my friend, pragmatism (having the baby would have profoundly disrupted her life), and a decidedly secular worldview. I had been brought up in a mainline church, and my knowledge of the Bible was minimal. It took personal failure and a disruption in my own circumstances to change that.

Think of "worldview" as the basic presuppositions we have about life--the grid through which we filter information and synthesize our responses to it. Most Americans see life through either a secular worldview or a religious worldview. Either man is the center of all things and the arbitrator of right and wrong, or God is.

The extreme of the former is expressed by British professor Richard Dawkins: "The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, and no good--nothing but blind pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is, and we dance to its music."

No God, no good, no ultimate meaning. If we are simply dancing to our DNA, then there is no objective, absolute right or wrong. We can decide morals on our own, making up the rules as we go. We came from a chance collision of egg and sperm, and when we're dead, we're dead.

If there is a God, we have two choices: discount his current involvement in the world or acknowledge him as sovereign. I took the first position in my ignorant youth--I believed in God, but I saw him as a distant deity--irrelevant, really, to my day-to-day life. Although I thought of myself as a Christian, I had essentially adopted the secular worldview. I did what seemed right to me.

Then I learned more. Conservative Christians, I found, believe God has spoken through the Bible and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and is very involved in everyday life. God is sovereign. He decrees what is right and wrong, and we are answerable to Him.

Over and over again in the Old Testament, God admonishes His people to "choose life." Over and over again, He punishes his beloved Israel for its refusal to follow his ways. Psalm 139 proclaims: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." And therein lies the heart of the issue: If life is sacred and each child a gift, abortion is thumbing our collective nose at the Creator--the same God to Whom we cry out when we are facing hurricanes or terrorist attacks. Why should God bless Americans when we disrespect His most basic gift? We've aborted 40 million lives since 1973.

Certainly, as my friend said, there are other issues we need to be concerned about. Among them are corporate greed and corruption, governmental malpractice, health care costs, and the role of lobbyists and special-interest groups in Washington and Richmond. But to me, the bellwether issue is abortion. It's foundational if we expect God's help with the rest.

That's why I can't get past Barack Obama's views on the subject. Picture this: A woman goes in for a late-term abortion. Somehow, some way, that tiny baby survives the procedure. There it is a fully formed human being, albeit one that needs some help. Do you suction his tiny airway? Feed him? Or do you put him on a counter and let him die? Obama was the only Illinois state senator to vote against a bill authorizing doctors to treat that child. Not even NARAL opposed that measure. His position reflects amazingly poor moral judgment.

But why should religious beliefs play such a strong role in politics? Well, let's see. The religious beliefs that grew out of the Reformation have given us, among other things, the concept of inalienable rights (endowed by the Creator), our system of checks and balances (needed because of the sinful nature of man), the idea that all people--including the king--are answerable to God's law, minority rights, government by consent, and our precious freedoms (press, religion, speech, etc.).

So do orthodox Christians want a theocracy? Not at all. One of the first principles of the Bible is free will. We get to choose; we also get the consequences. But it's our duty to stand up and say what we believe: Abortion takes an innocent life.

This isn't new. Abortion and infanticide were common in Rome, and the earliest Christians rescued babies left to die from exposure.

Philosopher Ravi Zach-arias tells a fitting joke: One night two Australian sailors on shore leave go into a London pub and get plastered. While they're drinking, a terrible fog sets in. When they finally stumble out of the bar, the sailors quickly get lost. Then a man approaches them, emerging out of the fog. Underneath his topcoat is the uniform of a high-ranking British naval officer. One of the sailors asks, "S'cuse me, bloke, but do you know where we are?" The officer, highly offended, responds, "Do you know who I am?" The sailor turns to his buddy and says, "God 'elp us, mate. We don't know where we are, and he doesn't know who he is!"

That's the condition of 21st-century man. We don't know who we are: beloved individuals created in the image of God. And we don't know where we are: drifting away from His objective moral standards. God help us.